


Playing With Fire

by ShadyLantern



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25227886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadyLantern/pseuds/ShadyLantern
Summary: Lavellan and Dorian leaving Redcliffe after the rough confrontation with his father.
Relationships: Male Lavellan/Dorian Pavus
Comments: 1
Kudos: 39





	Playing With Fire

The two were silent as they rode away from Redcliffe. Cassiel had not looked at or spoken to him since they left the city, riding ahead on his hart, eyes forward. Dorian kept pace behind him on his horse, mind racing. He turned his head, barely catching sight of Redcliffe over the trees. Hours behind them. They wouldn’t be back at Skyhold until tomorrow. An entire detour for nothing. 

Dorian looked back to the inquisitor, wondering what he was thinking. Was he angry? Was he angry with him? Dorian had seen the way the elf stared at his father, eyes like burning coals, but he’d said nothing to the man. Just took Dorian by the arm and led him back out of the tavern. 

His own heart burned, knowing his father could still find him. Still reach him, in some way, even if it was only by letter. Still trying to take control of him, haul him back to tevinter. Did he still think Dorian might cave under the pressure, swallow up every unsightly truth and marry some unfortunate woman? Somehow force himself to spawn unwanted children? Maybe, in one way, it would have been easier. But Dorian could never have done it. Never had hidden away who he was, screaming on the inside the rest of his life. It would have killed him. 

Another hour passed before Cassiel turned them aside, directing them into what seemed a random set of brush. He hopped off his hart, patting it on the flank and continuing on foot. Dorian sighed inwardly, sliding off his horse with somewhat less grace. He took it by the reins, leading it along behind Cassiel. 

Thankfully they didn’t have far to go. Barely thirty feet in the trees opened into a small clearing, flat and seemingly trampled down by various animals. Cassiel was taking the reins and saddle off his hart, setting them aside as Dorian came nearer. He wanted to say something, but no words came to him, so he set simply to trying to dress down his horse. 

Something he had very little experience in. The animal snorted in discomfort as he tried to remove its bridle unsuccessfully. A gentle hand touched his, Cassiel giving him a small assuring smile before taking over the job for him. Dorian stepped back, letting him work, wishing he could think of something to say. 

“We won’t be home until tomorrow, so we may as well stop here for the night,” Cassiel said softly. He stroked the horse’s nose, whispering something in elven. “There’s no big predators in the area, so we should be safe.”

“Is that… really something you can sense?” Dorian asked, though he already knew the answer. He just desperately needed to something to take his mind off the events of the day. Cassiel nodded, turning to their bags. 

“Most elves have some sense of animal empathy. Dalish elves anyway. The few city elves I’ve ever known seem to have their senses… muted.” He made a face as he dug a firepit. Dorian busied himself with gathering sticks and twigs for a fire. Needed something to do. 

The two fell silent again as they set up camp. The sun was beginning to set by the time they were done. Overhead, the tree tops opened in a small circle that exposed the sky, streaked with red as night approached. At least it wouldn’t rain tonight. 

Dorian sat down heavily on his bedroll, looking into the small fire Cassiel had started. He had some rations in his bag but had no appetite, and no desire to try and force himself to eat the dry, disgusting things anyway. The elf was settled further away, resting against his hart, the animal having laid down on the edge of the clearing to sleep. Neither it nor the horse were tied down, but Cassiel never did. He had said before the animals would not leave, and if they needed to he refused to have them tied in place. 

An elf thing, he supposed. A small smile touched his lips but faded quickly. His thoughts went back to Redcliffe, and back to his father. And back… to the inquisitor. He stole a glance at the elf, seeing him leaned back against his animal, nibbling some sort of fruit before offering the rest to his hart. Dorian looked back to the fire. Complicated thoughts. Twisted emotions. 

Cassiel pushed himself up, Dorian watching him approach. “You should try to rest,” the inquisitor said softly, looking into the fire. “We still have a long ride tomorrow, and it’s been a long day. I’ll keep watch for a few hours.”

Dorian simply nodded, letting out a slow breath. His mind fought with him to speak, to say something, but he couldn’t. What was there to say? He stretched out on his bedroll, not bothering to get inside it. It was a warm night, and the fire was nearby, and anyway the ground was so damn uncomfortable he needed as much padding as possible between him and the rocks. 

If he could even sleep… He closed his eyes, hearing the elf walk away to the edge of the clearing. He peered at him once more, catching sight of his dark form through the flames. Unbidden, a memory struck him, a collapsing palisade wreathed in flames crashing down before him, separating the inquisitor from the rest of them in Haven. Cassiel turning to them, eyes frightened but expression determined, yelling at them to leave with the others. One of his first memories of the man, as he turned and ran from them. Dorian had thought it would be the last he’d see of him. 

Memories playing in his mind, he finally managed to fall into a restless sleep. 

*****

Dorian woke with a jolt sometime later, taking in a sharp breath. He opened his eyes, for a moment confused as to where he was. A dark clearing, a firepit containing little more than burning embers. And a soft voice singing somewhere nearby. 

He sat up, biting back a groan at his stiff bones protesting. Hated sleeping on the ground. He peered up at the night sky, seeing the stars glinting down at him. How long had he managed to sleep? His eyes turned toward the voice, and fell on the dark form of the inquisitor standing just outside the clearing. Dorian had never heard him sing before. 

He listened for a time, trying to make out the words, though it didn’t take long to realise it was definitely in elvish. But his voice was gentle, and… beautiful. Dorian could have laughed at the idea, watching an elf singing songs in the forest under the starlight. But right now, he didn’t find it funny. Just… peaceful. 

When the elf finally fell quiet, the silence felt deafening. Dorian looked into the embers of the fire. His heart ached. Memories of his past. Memories of his father. And now all this. What was he to do? Go back to Skyhold, pretend none of this had happened? And the inquisitor… What could he possibly think of him now?

“Oh, Dorian…” His eyes lifted in surprise, seeing the elf standing across the fire from him. “I didn’t realise you were awake.”

Dorian smiled slightly. “I heard you sing,” he said quietly. Cassiel grinned back, stepping closer and settling down beside him. 

“Sorry if I woke you,” he said, slinging his arms over his knees. Dorian shook his head. 

“No… No, I don’t think there is much sleep for me tonight,” he said, waving a hand. The two looked quietly into the embers for a while. Dorian became ever more aware of the elf beside him, mere feet away. Idle memories of compliments and flirtatious comments. Dorian shook his head slightly. Don’t think of that. You know nothing about the inquisitor. Nothing about…

Cassiel tossed some sticks in the firepit, letting the fire grow once more. Dorian flicked a finger, helping it along with a small spell. “How do elves deal with this sort of thing?” he asked, focusing on the flames. 

“Magic?”

“No. People like me.”

“You mean, being gay.” Cassiel looked to him, but Dorian did not meet his eyes. “Elves don’t care. We must be as we are in our souls.” He flicked a twig into the flames distractedly. “There’s a couple clans out there who think we’re unnatural. Or at the very least, a burden on the species. But most clans don’t deal with them, for that and other reasons. Backward thinking.” Cassiel looked up at the sky. 

“It’s hard for me to believe, really, that one’s preferred company could cause so little fuss. Though most southerners seem to feel similarly.” Dorian idly fiddled with one of the straps on his shirt. “My father… He cares for me, in his way. I believe he wants what he considers best for me. But he would never understand… Swallowing everything, living a lie. Keeping everything unsavory locked away. That could never be what was best. I couldn’t do that.”

“You said he tried to change you?” He could feel the inquisitor’s eyes on him again, but still couldn’t meet them. 

“Out of desperation. He was going to do a blood ritual, try to alter my mind. Make me... acceptable.” He sneered around the word. Even saying it hurt his heart. “I knew he hated who I was, but to try something so absurdly risky, just to avoid scandal…”

“Can blood magic even do that?” Cassiel said incredulously. Dorian shrugged, plucking a weed from the grass. 

“Maybe. Or turn me into a drooling vegetable.” He felt his eyes burning, flicking the plant between his fingers. “Perhaps he never really wanted to go through with it. But I can’t forgive him for it.” He glared into the fire. “I won’t.”

Cassiel let out a long, slow breath. “There were things I wanted to say, in the tavern,” he said softly. “I didn’t, because I’m the inquisitor, and I thought getting in a fistfight with a magister from tevinter might be… unseemly.” Dorian chuckled brokenly, shaking his head. “It’s not something I can understand. I can’t imagine telling my fathers I was interested in men only to have them force me to hide it.” 

“Fathers, hm?” Dorian said with a small smirk, tossing the crushed weed in the fire. Cassiel let out a small breath of laughter. 

“Two fathers, one mother. Our beliefs place very little restriction on love.” He rested a hand on Dorian’s knee, and only then did he notice how much closer the elf had gotten since they started talking. Dorian finally looked to him, met his eyes, seeing the soft sympathy within them. Was this comfort? Simple friendship? Could it be affection? 

“Maker knows what you must think of me now, after that entire display,” he said, turning away. Cassiel touched a hand to his cheek, bringing his eyes back. 

“I think you’re very brave.”

“You think I’m brave?” He made a shaking laugh, reaching up to touch his hand with his own. “After everything you’ve done, anything I do in comparison is paltry.”

“That isn’t true.” Cassiel’s eyes stared into his, so close now. Sharp blue eyes that seemed to see right through him. “It isn’t easy to break tradition and walk your own path. I could never think less of you. More, if anything.”

Dorian closed his eyes, swallowing hard. His eyes and throat burned, and he willed himself not to cry in front of the inquisitor. “The things you say…”

“I mean them.”

He looked to the elf again, so close their breath mingled, Cassiel still holding a hand to his cheek. It had to be more than comfort. Dorian hesitated only a moment longer before closing the last of the distance, taking the elf’s lips in his. 

The mage clutched to his shirt, holding him close, Cassiel winding his hand into his hair, the other pressing to his chest. He lost himself in the moment, to his lips, his tongue, his soft scent and taste. He ran a gentle hand over the elf’s cheek, over his long pointed ear, back down to his neck. He could feel his pulse racing under his skin. 

He had to force himself to pull away, only the barest of inches, breathless. Cassiel looked at him with those beautiful eyes, hands stroking over his neck. Dorian grinned, pinching his ear lightly. “I see you enjoy playing with fire, inquisitor,” he teased.


End file.
